The present invention relates to single or multiple wire plugs incorporating in a preferred embodiment, the positive wire locking features of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,228,875, 5,695,369 and 5,868,589.
In the past, single or multiple wire plugs for wiring harnesses and the like have incorporated crimp connectors which require a crimping tool to make the electrical connection to conductive element in a plug (male or female). In a typical electrical plug, individual wires come into the plug and are either secured to a prong conductor element by a crimp-type connection or by a screw-type connection, or some other means which requires a tool to crimp the wire or a screwdriver to set the screw down.
The object of the present invention is to provide a plug-type connector in which the individual stripped wire ends coming into the connector, whether for the female element of the plug or for the prong male element of the plug, are secured without the use of any tools.
According to the invention, a single or multiple wire plug connector having non-conductive body members is provided in which the electrical connecting element between each two wires is comprised of a body member having one or more connection chambers and a electrically conductive connection element having, in a preferred embodiment, a bullet-shaped end through each connection chamber and a coupling end on the other end thereof. The coupling end may be either an electrical prong (male element) or a receptacle (female element). Each connection chamber is provided with internally threaded walls which coact with a wire clamping member. There is a clamp member for each individual wire, each clamp member having an externally threaded surface for threaded engagement with the threaded interior wall of the connection chamber. The clamp member also has a throughbore which is adapted to receive a wire end which is being connected to the bullet-shaped end of the connective member and to clamp the wire end in the connection chamber. The opposite end of the bullet is provided with either a female receptacle for receiving an electrical prong or a male prong for plugging into the electrical receptacle. For flat plugs, the clamp member of interior connectors, in one embodiment, is made slightly longer so as to be easier to grip between the fingers and clamp down on the wire.
In a second embodiment, instead of a bullet shape for the conductive element, a hollow, wire-receiving configuration is provided with a side aperture, and a ball is provided in the aperture. The ball fits in an aperture in a side of the conductive element and when the wire is put into the hollow end, the clamping member is turned to force the ball sideways into clamping engagement with the wire that has been fitted into the hollow bore.
Accordingly, the primary object of the invention is to provide an improved detachable single or multiple plug connector. Another object of the invention is to provide a single or multiple plug connector which is adapted to attach one or a plurality of wires to a like number of wires wherein no tools are required to make the wire connection.
The invention features a conductive element for use in forming an electrical plug coupling unit comprising a conductive body member having a first end and a second end, said first end being shaped to serve as a crimp-free electrical connector and said second end being shaped to form one of the following: (a) a male prong member or (b) a female prong member adapted to receive a correspondingly shaped male prong member or another of said conductive elements. In one embodiment, one end is shaped as a wire-splaying end and wire clamp surface, and in another embodiment said first end has a bore coaxially located in the center thereof and a transverse aperture, a ball seated in said transverse aperture, said ball being adapted for camming by a threaded camming member against a wire inserted through said bore and thereby clamping same therein.
The invention further features an electrical plug element comprising in combination a non-conductive body member and a plurality of conductive elements as described above, there being at least one male prong member and at least one female prong member therein.